Customer Reviews

Planet Formation: Theory, Observations, and Experiments (Cambridge Astrobiology)

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I was really glad in reading this book on the formation of planets to see a few pages devoted to Galileo. As the discoverer of the planet Neptune (it was nearby Jupiter which was his real interest) he deserves to be mentioned. As the victum of the power of the Roman Catholic church he pioneered the scientific approach to cosmology.

But I digress.

This is a book that summarizes the ten years since the first extra solar system planets were discovered. It is the result of a conference held in Bavaria in late 2004. Unlike many books giving reports of such conferences this one is not just a reprinting of the delivered papers. In this book a conscious effort was made to present a conscise and accurate picture of current planet formation theory, experiment and observations. The chapters are written by some heavy-hitters in the field and are more general in nature than just a summary of their current research.

In an amusing note, the book is dedicated to Slartibartfast of Magrathea, the one and only true planet formation specialist. He was, I'm sure you remember, the designer of planets, famous for creating the fjords found on the coast of Norway, as explained to the rest of us by Douglas Adams in 'The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.'